The LifeRing Organization

The core unit of LifeRing is the recovery meeting. Meetings are autonomous except in matters affecting other meetings and the organization as a whole. Click to see the current worldwide schedule of Face-to-Face (F2F) Meetings and Online Meetings.

For LifeRing organizational documents, see below.

The LifeRing Service Center performs worldwide information & referral and other services for the meetings. LifeRing Press publishes books, brochures, and other media. LifeRing Inc., a California nonprofit corporation with 501(c)(3) charitable tax-exempt status, owns the LifeRing service marks and is responsible for finances. A nine-member Board of Directors, composed of alcoholics/addicts with a minimum of two years clean and sober, oversees the corporation and provides worldwide coordination needed.

LifeRing is a freestanding organization. LifeRing is not affiliated with any other organization and is independent financially, legally, organizationally and in every other way. LifeRing is supported by meetings that forward proceeds from passing the basket, literature sales, and by individual donations. The Executive Director, Officers, Board Members, and LifeRing convenors are all unpaid volunteers. There is a part-time paid staffer who works in the office.

Members of the LifeRing Board of Directors are:

Dan Carrigan, San Francisco, CA. Dan provides workshop programs for non-profits across the United States. Elected in 2014, to fill out a vacant one-year term. Dan has been re-elected twice to the board. His term ends in 2021. Currently, he is serving as board chair.

George Gidora, lives in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada. He has been involved with LifeRing since 2005 and started the first LifeRing meeting in Vancouver Canada. He currently convenes a closed meeting at the Pacifica Treatment Centre. He is the President of LifeRing Canada. Elected in 2016. His term ends in 2019.

Byron Kerr, Milpitas, CA. Byron has started numerous LifeRing meetings throughout northern California, the newest ones being in Silicon Valley. Re-elected to the Board in 2017, his term ends in 2020. He is currently Executive Director of LifeRing.

Lorraine Hull, Denver, CO Lorraine has been involved with LifeRing Colorado since 2013. She convenes the Tuesday night St. John's library meeting and started other sober activities including the Saturday morning gathering of sober coffee drinkers. Her term started in 2017 and will end in 2020.

Harold Marquez, Sacramento, CA. Harold is the Sacramento Area Representative. He has helped start a couple of meetings in the Sacramento Area. Harold convenes a meeting for homeless veterans at the Veterans Resource Center in Sacramento. Elected in 2016. Harold's term is up in 2019.

Donal Breen, lives in Dublin, Ireland. He has been a LifeRing convenor since 2012 and convenes on a regular basis in the Dublin area. Donal is Branch Liaison Officer for LifeRing throughout Ireland. Elected to Board in 2018. His term ends in 2021

Mary Beth O'Connor, resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she convenes a LifeRing meeting. Her term started in 2017 and will end in 2020.

Bob Crosby, Bob Crosby, Lafayette, CO. Bob has been involved in LifeRing since 2016 and convenes a meeting in Lafayette, CO and is the creator/administrator of LifeRing Colorado group on Facebook. He was elected to the Board in 2018. His term ends in 2021

Current officers of LifeRing are:

Board Meetings:

Board members meet every month (except at the Annual Meeting where board members meet face to face) on the second Sunday of the month at 9:00 AM, PT via a Zoom conference call:
For a video link via the Zoom platform, please click this link: Zoom Info.

General Manager:

Current Regional Representatives for LifeRing:

Founder and CEO 1997-2010:

How to become a Board Director or Officer?

LifeRing Bylaws require a minimum of two years clean and sober to serve on the Board of Directors and a minimum of one year clean and sober to serve as an officer. Directors and officers must be people in recovery from a substance addiction. The board meets face-to-face at the annual LifeRing Congress and it meets monthly between Congresses by telephone conference call.

Who Leads LifeRing Meetings?

LifeRing meetings are started and led by peer volunteers called “convenors.” Convenors are ordinary people, with at least six months sobriety, who take turns performing the tasks necessary to keep the LifeRing meeting network going and growing. There are convenor workshops where convenors meet, exchange experiences, and help new convenors learn the ropes, but no formal training or certificate is required to be a convenor. To learn more, go to the Become a Convenor page.

Starting a New LifeRing Meeting

If you have substantial time clean and sober (at least six months) and would like to make the LifeRing approach available as a choice to other people in recovery, starting a meeting may be a helpful element in your personal recovery plan. First, check out the Meeting Schedule and the Online Meeting Schedule to see if there is already a meeting in the place and/or time that interests you. Then check out the Start a LifeRing Meeting page to see what resources are available to help you start a LifeRing meeting in your area.

History of LifeRing

LifeRing began as a publishing house, LifeRing Press, founded in April 1997. On May 23, 1999, a group of meeting representatives convened in Albany, CA and voted to adopt the name LifeRing Secular Recovery. LifeRing became a national organization at its constitutional Congress in Brooksville, FL in February 2001.

LifeRing Documents

Legal Notice

LifeRing Press, LifeRing Recovery, LifeRing Secular Recovery and the LifeRing graphic design are registered trademarks/servicemarks of LifeRing Inc. All rights reserved. The LifeRing meeting charter and Bylaws are official publications of LifeRing Inc., approved by the LifeRing Congress. All other publications, including, without limitation, the content of posts, blog items, comments, books, brochures, flyers, other publications, and linked sites on this website, represent the opinions of their authors.